[quote="scot47"]Students in KSA are better motivated. Now that IS a scary statement ![/quote]

I am not sure about that. Recent events in the magic kingdom have made a lot of them sit up and suddenly pay attention to English - they see what's going on around them and how education is a way up and out. Don't forget almost half of the people in the magic kingdom are under 30 and many are unemployed. Many are trying hard. I worked in Qatar more than 20 years ago and at that point in time the Qataris were very highly motivated. I've since heard the excess revenue from gas and oil money has made them spoiled and lazy. I've been back a few times and seen the changes that oil money has made. Very impressive but at the same time, when you have it all, you don't have the motivation.

I've also heard the students are more arrogant and tend to regard the teachers as upmarket servants nowadays. A big change from their parents' generation. This is the attitude to some extent in KSA but not like in Qatar.

Some pretty smart students coming out of the private schools as well as the IB independent schools like Omar Bin Khattab. Those schools are doing a good job, other independent schools are not faring so well - their graduates are the ones who end up in the ESL classes. The others do not.